


scene 23

by juryrouge



Category: I Hate Everything (YouTube RPF), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Crack, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-23
Updated: 2019-01-17
Packaged: 2019-06-14 23:53:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,849
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15400383
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/juryrouge/pseuds/juryrouge
Summary: Alex takes a late-night filmmaking class. An IHE fanfic.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> … i dont even know what this is? honestly this fic is kinda just a cracky stress relief side project that i will be updating sporadically at best. all the characters are definitely ooc and nothing probably makes sense. if someone somehow happens to stumble upon this, please enjoy nonetheless
> 
> -jury

Alex had been editing for so long, he thought his fingers would begin to bleed. The sun had past the horizon hours ago and staring at a bright screen for so long certainly wasn’t healthy. He attempted to blink the dryness out of his eyes, downing the rest of his tea as he cut yet another clip. Then another. And then another. 

This would never be fucking finished. Alex had been working on his latest video -- another installment in one of his most popular series, The Search For The Worst -- for a little bit more than a week. And he knew, he knew, the video was just fine the way it was now, but it wasn’t great. It wasn’t all that it could be. 

He just needed a few more minutes of editing. Or a few hours or a few years. Something pulled at Alex’s chest as his heart began to beat a little quicker. The video was okay; the video was good; the video-

_The video is the worst thing you’ve ever done_. 

No. No. Stop. He couldn’t let his mind wander there. He had worked too hard to let doubt squeeze his chest and leave him breathless. Alex couldn’t remember the last time he had taken a break. He wrapped his fingers around the arms of his chair and stared blankly at the screen. He needed to stop now. The video was good enough. 

Before he could overthink it, Alex saved the video and started the process of uploading it to YouTube. For a moment, he wondered if any of his subscribers would point out the fact that he was posting so late in the night. Probably. 

Alex pushed himself out of his chair and drearily stumbled to his room. Argy, his dumb wonderful corgi, was fast asleep -- in the middle of his fucking bed. Fucking unbelievable. He tossed himself on the corner of the bed, wrapping a bit of the blanket around his body, as not to wake Argy. Alex knew that it was definitely at least four am and that he should try to get a little sleep. Except uploading that video was such a bad idea. 

He should’ve spent more time on it and at least tried to make it perfect. Alex groaned into his pillow. He needed to stop thinking. He needed sleep. Now. 

Argy whined and leaned in closer, resting his head on Alex’s leg. And with soft fur underneath his fingers and view counts swirling in his head, Alex fell into a fitful slumber. 

***

Alex woke up with something blaring in his ear and he just wanted to fucking die. What time was it? Rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, Alex grabbed his phone on his nightstand and checked the time -- 8:31 am. Wonderful. He tapped the screen and the awful noise stopped. Alex hated a lot of things and one of them was forgetting to turn of his alarm clock. 

His dog whimpered near the foot of his bed, begging to be fed. What a persuasive swindler. Alex went through his horribly monotonous morning routine and didn’t check his computer -- not once. He didn’t want to check how well the video was doing. He didn’t want to panic and obsess over his work. 

“Good to see you’re alive!” Jamie, his annoying brother, cheered and Alex jumped out of his seat, almost spilling cereal everywhere. 

“I didn’t hear you come in. You could’ve knocked.”

“Why would I do that when I have a key?” Jamie gave him a look. Alex didn’t remember ever giving him one, so -- sounds fake, but okay. “But seriously, glad to see you alive. Haven’t seen you since the last JARCast.”

“I’ve almost finished editing that, by the way,” Alex replied, chewing slowly on his breakfast. 

Jamie didn’t respond and instead rifled through his fridge like a heathen; he practically inhaled a box of leftover Indian food and Alex rolled his eyes. “When’s the last time you called mum?”

Alex shifted uncomfortably. “I’ve been busy.”

“You need to get out of your house more, Alex,” Jamie said, turning to face him. “You’re becoming a hermit.”

“Hardly.”

“Why don’t you just try taking a break, man?” Jamie asked, eating cereal out of Alex’s bowl without permission because he was an awful fucking brother. 

Alex sighed heavily. He couldn’t just take a break; he couldn’t just turn it off. How the hell was he supposed to put that into words? “I-it’s not that simple.”

“Well it is now because I did something.”

“... Jamie what the fuck is that supposed to mean?”

***

Yes, it was true that Alex was trying to glare holes into him, and yes, it was because Jamie was the messy bitch that lived for drama his mama raised him to be. 

“You signed me up for some late night university course _without my permission_ ?” Alex’s blue eyes shined with unbridled fury and damn, Jamie should be a fucking poet because that was a good line. 

“You haven’t left your house in _literally_ forever and dad thinks you’re starting to neglect your health and mum has been super worried and my wonderful solution, dear brother, was signing you up for a film class.” Alex was still glaring at him and Jamie thought it was completely unjustified -- that bitch. He had actually thought it through: it got him out of his hermit-hole, he could meet new people, it was a break from his videos, and he would be learning so he didn’t have to feel guilty for ‘slacking off.’

Really, Jamie did not get enough credit in this household. 

“ _How_ ?” Alex sputtered out, running his hands through his light hair -- it looked a bit greasy if he was being honest. When was the last time his brother showered? Jamie mentally patted himself on the back; it was a good thing that he had intervened. Jamie was a bad bitch of a goddess and there truly weren’t enough temples that worshipped him. 

“Surprisingly, it wasn’t that difficult,” Jamie shrugged, “I sound like you -- as you know from your comment section -- and you leave your info next to Dick the Head when you’re grabbing the mail.”

Alex looked at him incredulously. “You’re the worst human alive.”

“Did I finally dethrone Daddy Derek?”

“Shut it.”

That was clearly code for Jamie: 1 and Alex: 0. It felt good to be a winner. Except Alex was still glaring at him and he did not deserve that. Alex should be thanking him for helping so selflessly. Jamie could be doing something -- anything -- infinitely better… like washing his beanie collection or jumping off a tall building into the River Thames. 

“So you’re going, right?” Jamie asked. “Cause I already paid for the class with someone’s credit card.” People at strip clubs were so clueless. 

“If I’m going then you’re going too.” Alex sighed in frustration and put his bowl in the sink. 

Jamie grinned. “That’s fine by me! The first class is tonight at seven, I’ll pick you up.”

Alex’s blue eyes widened. “Tonight? Are you kidding?”

“Nope,” Jamie replied, grabbing whatever food he could find in his brother’s pantry and heading out the door, “I would also recommend taking a shower.”

***

Sitting on his porch, Alex fondly thought back to the first three years of his life when Jamie wasn’t alive. Good times. The English air was cold, the strong breeze echoing a whisper as it ran through the trees. Alex’s blonde hair was still damp from the shower his brother ‘encouraged’ him to take. He curled into his coat, pulling the trick fabric tighter around his body. 

Jamie pulled up in a horribly old car that made a whining noise every time it slowed to a halt. Alex winced a bit at the noise. He silently stood up and got in the passenger's seat, putting his seatbelt on without a word. Alex could feel Jamie staring holes into him. 

“What.”

Jamie didn’t miss a beat. “You look like a discount homeless stoner.” 

Alex wanted to rip that beanie off his head. “Shut it and drive, you furry.” Jamie chuckled, starting the car and making idle chatter Alex hardly cared to listen to. He was still mad at him. Jamie was going on and on about Minecraft or anime or something -- what a waste of time. He could be a home right now, getting work done. Writing the script for his new IHE video or polishing up the new JARCast or doing literally anything else besides taking some useless filmmaking class. Alex was I Hate Everything, not ihateeverythingthemoviemaker. 

Soon enough, Jamie was telling him to get out of the car. They were about five minutes early and it took them a few minutes of wandering to finally find the classroom. It was the very last room in a drabby looking building, the lights in the hall broken and the AC running on full even though it was terribly cold. 

Alex did not like it. One could almost say he… hated it. 

There were around eight people in the room besides the professor, a tall man in his thirties who seemed eager and passionate. What a poor lad. The expressions of the other students ranged from absolutely bored to damn-near elation. 

Alex plopped himself down in the seat nearest to the back, crossing his arms awkwardly as he scanned the room. Two girls sat in front of him, a blonde with rosy cheeks and a brunette that looked more invested in her black coffee than anything else. They scrolled through their phones, looking up every once in a while to show each other something or make a casual comment. 

They suddenly turned to him. The blonde put her phone down on the table in front of her while the brunette was half-invested in what was going on. “Hey, what’s up. My name’s Laura J. Montgomery.”

“Alex,” he introduced, clearing his throat. Laura grinned. 

“I’m Brianna,” the brunette muttered, still scrolling through her phone, “just here for a gen-ed.”

Laura fondly rolled her brown eyes. “I’m a little more ambitious that Bri here. My dream is to become a _YouTube Star_ ! I want to get millions of views, tons of sponsorships deals, masses of dedicated fans. I want the world to know my name: Laura J. Montgomery. And if I want to do that, I need to know how to make videos.”

Alex blinked. And then he blinked again. “Yeah, that’s… something.” Another blink. “I’m just here cause my dumb brother dragged me.” He turned back at Jamie who was behind him, staring at himself in the foggy window in the corner of the classroom. 

“But can you imagine being a famous YouTuber?” Laura gushed. 

“Nope.”

The teacher, Professor Wilson, introduced himself and began taking attendance. After ending with Robert Young, he started reading through the syllabus before stopping abruptly. For a second, Alex thought he was looking at him, but then he realized he was staring directly behind him… at Jamie. “I’m sorry, who are you?” 

“Oh, my name’s Jamie,” he responded casually, taking a seat next to Alex and smiling sweetly. 

Professor Wilson looked at a paper on his desk. “Your name’s not on the attendance sheet. What are you doing here?”

Jamie shrugged. “Attending class.” Alex pinched the bridge of his nose. 

“I’m not going to grade you until you’re officially signed up to take the class. It won’t count for anything.”

“That’s calm.”

Wilson, who wasn’t quite sure how to respond to that, just decided to ignore Jamie entirely. He asked the class to go around and introduce themselves, starting with a man named Ethan. He was taking the class for his major. Another woman, Samantha, just seemed to be taking it for fun, as an escape from an incredibly boring job. Laura rambled on for about five minutes about her entire career plan before Wilson decided to cut off her monologue. Skipping over Jamie, it was finally Alex’s turn. 

“Hello, my name is Alex,” he introduced himself to the class. He stuffed his hands in his coat, unsure of what to say. He knew his voice sounded a bit rough and he probably looked even rougher. He ran a hand through his hair, which had dried sticking up in all different directions, his cheeks burning a bit. With everyone staring at him so intently, his self-consciousness was rearing its ugly head. “I live about fifteen minutes away and I’m here with my brother, Jamie. I enjoy videos and films, I suppose… well _good_ videos and films. Not much of a fan of most things.”

“Is that it?” Another student, Robert, asked. 

Alex nodded, trying to muster up a smile that probably looked more like a scowl. 

“Seriously? I mean, you do seem like a fairly dreary person -- sort of dead on the inside,” Ethan said, turning back to look at him. “Do you just hate life or something?”

“I hate everything,” Alex replied, monotonously. He meant it as more of a joke than anything else, but by the expressions on everyone's faces, most didn't take it as such. 

For a moment, no one said anything. Until Laura spoke up. “If you hate everything, does that mean you hate yourself?”

It was official. Alex wanted to fucking die. 

***

Alex sighed in contentment the moment Jamie dropped him off and his head hit the pillows of his bed. Argy springed up next to him, curling up in the crook of his arm. The first day of film class was just an hour of going over the syllabus; it was the most boring hour of his life. He ran his hand over his face, trying to rub the tiredness of his eyes. He didn’t exactly have a good night’s sleep, but he needed to do _something_ productive today. Regardless of annoying younger brothers and worried mums, he needed to work. 

_Have to be useful for something_. 

Alex forced himself out of bed and into his workspace. He quite liked the room. He had his lovely computer and microphone, a plush black chair, and a wall filled with fanart of his online persona. He first checked the video he recently uploaded. It was doing well, really well, and Alex let out a sigh of relief. 

He then went to his twitter notifications. There were more messages than there usually were -- most were from fans. _Hey IHE you should check this out… yo have you seen this… dude idk if you know about this… ihe look at this… heyy just wanted to make sure you knew… IHE look…_

They were all pointing him to the same place. A website -- dedicated to him. Not I Hate Everything per say, but Alex. Finding out who he was, what he looked like, where he lived…

Something coiled in the pit of his stomach and suddenly Alex couldn’t breathe. The air in the room seemed thick, wrapping around him and suffocating him like a noose. Panic and anxiety started to set in, burning their way up his chest and into his throat. He grabbed the arms of the chair, trying to stop his shaking. 

Who the hell were these people?


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter goes out to saiouma for reminding me that this fic even exists. hope you all enjoy!
> 
> -jury

Alex didn’t know how long he’d been staring at the screen in front of him. He just wasn’t quite sure how to process what he was seeing. What the hell was this website? How long had it existed? Who the fuck was running it? Just… _what the fuck?_

Alex forced himself to close his eyes. His heart hammered in his chest and suddenly, he couldn’t breathe. Alex knew he needed to calm down, but how the hell was he supposed to do that? Everything became blurry and the world seemed to tilt on its axis. Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale.

That wasn’t helping. Fuck. 

He curled over onto himself and tried to regain his composure. Just focus on breathing. Just focus on breathing. Alex wasn’t quite sure how long he’d been sitting there, trying to keep his heart from bursting out of his chest, but he knew it was far too long for his liking. He glanced back up at the screen of his computer. The front of the website was still open. It looked inconspicuous enough… and that terrified Alex. 

An awful curiosity stirred inside him, whispering at him to continue looking through the website. And another part of him wasn’t too keen on sending himself into another panic attack. 

Alex hesitated. The brightness of the computer stared back at him. And he scrolled down. 

Really, the website looked liked an unfinished blog from the early 2000’s. It was quite sad. If there was a The Search For The Worst Website, this one would definitely be on there. Now that Alex actually looked at it, there wasn’t much to the front page, it was just extremely creepy. It had a picture of his large eyebrowed persona next to a picture of him from high school -- what the fuck. The words “UNCOVERING THE TRUTH” were written in bold letters below it along with a short paragraph about what they were trying to do. Which was stalk Alex and put his entire personal life on the internet. 

There were a dozen horribly colored tabs on the side of the front page: about, gallery, wiki, chat, etc. Alex’s stomach lurched. This was just too weird. Weirder than those fucking parody channels. 

This crossed a line. 

He clicked gallery first. Most of the pictures were fanart of his IHE persona, but some… weren’t. They were pictures of him -- Alex -- ranging from a few months ago to over a decade ago. He had _never_ posted any of the photos online and he doubted anyone else had. How did they get these? How did th- _the hell, Alex looked twelve in that picture._ A very young Jamie stood next to him, begging to blow out candles that weren’t for him. 

Alex didn’t know what to say. What could he say?

And another one of him, one from a few months ago, was one Alex had never even seen before. It was blurry and distorted, like the person who took its’ hands were shaking as they snuck a picture from behind a shelf at a grocery store. Looking at that picture, Alex felt like he’d been doused in ice cold water. 

Someone had sought him out and then taken a picture of him and posted it on this disturbing website all without him realized it. Disgust coiled in his stomach. Alex glanced around his room, weary of whoever these people were still watching him. 

_You’re going mad._

He needed to get off this tab.

Alex clicked on chat next. And he regretted it immediately, but just… couldn’t look away. He needed to see what these people were doing, what they were saying. Otherwise, he wouldn’t be able to stop thinking and obsessing over it.

_Who are you kidding? You would’ve done that anyway._

Everyone… everyone was talking about him. 

love4lyfe11: isn’t he just adorable?  
MsAlex: yeh why doesn’t he show his face more  
coolestcat: tbh a tragedy  
love4lyfe11: i saw him yesterday in a parking lot!  
Rep89er: Post the pics.  
Mortenai: did u try following him home?

Alex shut off his computer. This was all just too weird. It looked as though the people on the website had been watching him for a while, snapping pictures of him and writing about what he did during the day -- completely invading his privacy. His office where he made videos didn’t have any windows; when the sun went past the horizon and his late nights of only staring into a bright screen began, he wondered if he should change his office. Now he was grateful. 

What the hell was Alex supposed to do? Should he call the police? File some sort of cease and desist? Move to another country? Alex tapped anxiously at his desk, a wave of nausea falling over him. He couldn’t wrap his head around this website. Couldn’t wrap his head around the fact that people were actually that devoted to finding everything there was to know about him. 

Alex stood up. He legs felt weak underneath him. If Jamie were here, he would say it was because of his skinny jeans. Yeah… he should probably call Jamie at some point. At least now he had a reasonable excuse not to go to that stupid film class -- good excuse not to leave his house in general. Just the thought of going outside, knowing that someone could be watching him, sent shivers down his spine. There was a reason he never showed his face on his channel. 

He walked over to his front door and made sure it was locked. Argy padded over, quirking his head lopsidedly as he stared at his owner. His tail was wagging happily behind him. 

“Sorry, Argy,” Alex sighed, running a hand through his hair, “I’m not taking you on a walk. I’m was just checking something.” Argy whined, trotting closer to his owner, looking up at him with expectant eyes. Alex patted him lightly on the head and apologized again. He would have to leave the house to walk his dog eventually. And he would run out of food eventually too. 

_You really thought you could run away from this._

Alex shook his head. He needed to focus on something else… like making sure all of his windows were locked. And he should really get his key back from Jamie; he wouldn’t doubt the possibility of his brother losing it. Alex walked around his house, closing all his curtains and making sure each window was sealed shut. Argy followed loyally behind him. 

Maybe he should invest in a security system -- have a couple cameras out front and an alarm too. If the pictures on the website were anything to go by, some of his _fans_ lived close by. Not even fans, more like stalkers. 

Yeah, stalkers. That was the right word for it. Definitely stalkers. 

***

Ruben was bored. Really bored. Work had been exhausting and most of him just wanted to curl into a ball and die a slow, wondrous death. And that other part of him wanted to get out and do _something._ Literally anything. Maybe watch a movie or pet a dog or something. He could check his notifications, but unfortunately, his phone was a whole three feet away from him. 

He kicked his feet lightly and let them fall off the couch. At least that was something. Ruben was still bored though -- and a little bit hungry. He should make a sandwich. 

Ugh. He needed to get up to do that. 

Ruben’s phone began buzzing on the table next to him. He sighed heavily, stretching his arm out to reach the device. So. Much. Effort. 

Ruben read the Caller ID: it was Alex. “Hey, buddy, what’s up? Need company for another Trying to Watch?” Ruben greeted his friend, propping his feet back on the couch 

He could hear Alex faintly scoff. “Yeah, I wish,” Alex replied, “I really really wish.”

“Is everything alright?” Ruben asked, growing increasingly concerned. 

“No, it isn’t. I found this thing online…”


End file.
